Sekulow

Logan Sekulow: Welcome to Sekulow. It has been quite a busy week here at the ACLJ, and we are going to recap a lot of it today. Of course, the two major stories that came out this week involve a brand-new ACLJ case. If you have not followed what has been going on, it involves a homeschool graduate, a twenty-two-year-old certified EMT, and the rookie of the year volunteer firefighter in his hometown of Fremont, Nebraska. He was told there was a job opening and was encouraged to apply to become a full-time paid career fireman. He thought this was going to be his time and the moment he had been wanting his entire life. However, they told him there was one small problem. He had been completely denied. When he asked why, they pointed to his qualifications. He is a certified EMT. He is currently working on his associate's degree in fire science. He is a rookie of the year firefighter. It turns out his homeschool diploma does not hold up to the rigorous test of what the qualifications need to be to be a firefighter in Fremont, Nebraska. The ACLJ jumped in and said that they cannot do this. It was clear he was being targeted specifically because someone had it out for homeschoolers. You made a stink about it, we jumped in, and he will be joining us later today. You will see a segment we did with him because I always think you should see the client and hear from them when you can. It is important to have that point of view. When you see this story, you are not going to believe it. They did have a city council meeting where they decided they needed to right that wrong because the ACLJ is breathing down their necks. Our supporters are giving them calls, and all of this is happening at once. While the new resolution says a homeschool diploma is fine, it does not give this kid a job, and it does not protect the rights of homeschoolers around the country. This is a big lawsuit that we are going to be a part of, and you need to join with us at ACLJ.org. We also have updates coming out of that foiled terrorist attack. You may think they stopped it ahead of time, but this was a mid-terror attack over the skies headed to Israel. There were hundreds on board, and they were able to overtake it. We will hear from Jeff Ballabon from ACLJ Jerusalem. I want to give a full recap of all that has been going on this week. I am a homeschool graduate and a current homeschool parent. The lawyer for Andrew, the ACLJ attorney, is also a homeschool graduate. This hits home for us, so we are going to take this as far as we can. This is an old-school ACLJ-style case. We have been supporting the rights of homeschoolers for nearly forty years. I encourage you to go to ACLJ.org and support us if you can. All of our content and our legal help is available without a paywall. If you are one of our ACLJ clients, you get an ACLJ attorney at zero cost. If you want to watch our show or read our content, you are not going to get a pop-up saying you need to sign up. That is only because people like you support the work on a continual basis. People who become ACLJ champions say they will dedicate five dollars or five hundred dollars a month to the organization. We don't just tell you what is happening; we get things done. Be a part of these world-changing efforts at the ACLJ today.
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Logan Sekulow: Welcome to the all-new ACLJ app. Expert analysis and insight Big Tech can't censor. Customize your news and get real-time alerts on the issues you care about. Advocacy is now at your fingertips. Take action, make a difference, and support the causes you care about with just one tap. Be the first to know with breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox. Everything you need, all in one place. Stay informed, stay empowered. Download today. We are so excited to announce the ACLJ's brand-new app, completely redesigned to provide you with the best tools available to partner with us at the ACLJ. You can watch the daily Sekulow program, sign the petitions, customize your ACLJ membership experience, donate with the click of a button, and receive up-to-the-minute critical updates that the mainstream media can't censor. Just scan the QR code on your screen or go to your phone's app store, search ACLJ, and click install. It is that simple. Welcome back to Sekulow. Jeff Ballabon is joining us from ACLJ Jerusalem. We are covering the news, and it is the top story around the world right now. As of right now, the passengers are reuniting with their families at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. Jeff, we woke up to this thwarted 9/11-style terrorist attack. When you hear that initially, you think we stopped something early on, but that was not the situation. This happened mid-air where you had a pilot attack another pilot to allegedly hijack this plane filled with Israelis on the way to Tel Aviv. Thankfully, the crew and a lot of the other passengers took things into their own hands to not let this happen, and they have now flown to safety. There were some bloody images for those who are watching right now. There are videos and pictures that are way worse than this, where blood was smeared all over this flight. They did what they needed to do to protect the flight against the pilot who was potentially hijacking this flight to do nefarious things. The press is being a little bit cautious in what they are calling this, but I think the trajectory of where this is going to go is clear.
Jeff Ballabon: The press, as usual, is refraining from saying what is obvious for as long as they can. There are numerous reports that the co-pilot is Omani and that he was yelling "Allahu Akbar," which tends to tip the hand as to what the intentions of this attack were. The concerns were that they could have taken these Israelis and other passengers on the plane hostage, or they could have used it to do a 9/11-style attack by crashing the plane into some site in Israel. Many things could have happened that were averted. Across Israel, from the upper echelons politically and militarily to the people in the street, the reaction is one of gratitude. There is a belief that this is a genuine miracle and a sense of pride that the Israeli passengers were able to overwhelm this attacker, breach the cockpit door, and save the flight. The rudder was broken, so even being able to land the flight was extraordinary. My understanding is there were also some Russian and Ukrainian passengers who were helpful in terms of landing the flight. Thank God this has a relatively happy ending in a terrible crisis averted, but it was obviously terrifying for the long minutes that the passengers had to endure.
Logan Sekulow: It should be a wake-up call. There were two pilots who happened to be on board heading to Tel Aviv to be pilots for another flight. They were able to fly this to safety. It is a miracle, but it is a miracle that we also have to take with a serious warning. This could have very easily gone the other way. We can all sigh a breath of relief and cheer on these passengers as being heroes in this situation. But that doesn't mean the threat isn't there. It is hard to protect yourself from certain things when it is the pilot deciding he is going to take things into his own hands and cause this kind of chaos. Thank God there were other people on board who were able to overwhelm him.
Jeff Ballabon: This is a very spectacular example of a problem that we see in America across the board also, where people with a particular Islamist, violent, jihadist ideology become doctors and nurses and threaten to use their position to kill people they disagree with. We have pilots in this situation. There is a genuine problem of a strain of Islamism that is a proximate threat to a lot of us. We at the ACLJ have dealt with this in terms of the licensing of medical professionals here in America who threaten to use their licenses to commit harm to patients who they disagree with.
Logan Sekulow: Prime Minister Netanyahu said the pilot tried to crash this plane, and this clearly was a terrorist activity. Then, of course, you have the American journalists who are slow to report this. Fox has been very clear on it, but you have the New York Times headlines that say breaking news of a plane flying from Israel was diverted after an altercation between the pilot and co-pilot. It sounds like they were having a marital argument and had to land the plane. Then the BBC put "Israel-bound flight diverted after fight between pilots." Again, a fight between pilots happened, but they didn't put in there that he brutally stabbed him and had essentially done everything but kill him. Thankfully, as of right now, he is in critical condition but will hopefully survive.
Jeff Ballabon: The media plays this role in trying to create a narrative, but I think most people see through it at this point. They are doing what they see as their job, which is spinning a narrative that is hopelessly unrelated to actual reality. These things should matter to all of us because anybody who gets on public transportation needs to worry about these things. We would like to know that our media is telling the truth. My favorite was the BBC repeatedly referring to Ben Gurion Airport, which is named for the first Prime Minister of Israel, as Ben-Gvir Airport. That is a current Israeli politician who the Left likes to demonize in every way possible and turn into a caricature of evil. You actually couldn't make that kind of garbage up.
Logan Sekulow: One of our team members just sent me a text that said it was a fiery but mostly peaceful hijacking. That is what we have seen the media play out here. They can't say anything when it comes to Israel without giving some sort of caveat to it not being somehow terrorist-related. For this moment, we need to be relieved and be thanking all these people who were involved because everyone who was on board has made statements saying clearly this was an attempted terrorist attack. I don't care how the media is going to spin it. Those are the people who lived it and were in the air. They experienced it firsthand as this plane nosedived ten thousand to fifteen thousand feet in a few seconds and the chaos that was ensuing around them.
Jeff Ballabon: The Israelis are rightfully grateful to God and also proud that their citizens were able to take control of the plane, especially because these are regular, everyday people conducting business or coming back from vacation doing truly heroic things like special forces.
Logan Sekulow: We are seeing live celebrations happening in Ben Gurion Airport right now as people arrive with balloons and Israeli flags. It is a hero's welcome for these passengers who are just making their way back. What a day they have had. I think this is a day we need to make sure we don't forget because it is a happy ending, and it is easy to move on very quickly. Jeff, I will give you the last minute here to wrap up. What do people need to take away from this? Of course, that is part of the reason the ACLJ team is there as well, to make sure that these things don't get forgotten and that we elevate what needs to be elevated.
Jeff Ballabon: Everything changed after October 7, 2023. We are now in the middle of a holiday of Tabernacles, Sukkot, which culminates in the final day of Simchat Torah, rejoicing in the Torah. That was the day of the attack. It is very much on people's minds right now. Israel, with all of its power and strength, is still a very deeply traumatized country by that. To see this as a miraculous, successful, happy ending is a moment of blessing.
Logan Sekulow: It feels like a modern story from a Jewish holiday. Jeff, thanks for joining us and popping on today. I know it wasn't in the plans, but I always appreciate it. We are only a week away from the anniversary of October 7, so of course, that is on everyone's mind there. I know a lot of you who are watching right now want to call in with your thoughts on this at 1-800-684-3110. You also know about that case with the homeschooler in Nebraska who wanted to be a firefighter and was told his high school diploma was not good enough. We have got an update in the next segment. We are going to be joined by one of our ACLJ attorneys, Nathan Moelker, from Washington, D.C. We are going to go into some details with him on why it is important for us and why it hits close to home for us in these situations. We will even have an update from that council meeting that happened last night. Some good news is exciting, however, it doesn't stop the work of the ACLJ because he still doesn't have a job, and we want to make sure the wrongs are all fixed for him and every homeschooler out there. We will be right back.